Kentucky Baptist Disaster Relief Dedicates 'Chatterbox,' a Communications Unit With Solar Charging, Satellite Internet and Internet Phones
The South Central Baptist Association (SCBA) in Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky, dedicated a disaster relief communications unit named 'Chatterbox' on October 29. When a disaster knocks out phone, text and email service, the unit will give survivors a place to charge devices, get online and make calls.
Chatterbox is equipped with solar power charging stations, Starlink satellite internet, a cell phone signal booster and a Voice over IP phone system. SCBA disaster relief team member Rod Hutcheson said the unit can run for up to eight hours a day even if there is no sunlight to power its solar panels, and that the team began dreaming about the unit more than two years ago, when the technology was less capable than it is now.
Fellow team member Tom Witthuhn said the unit serves a niche area of the disaster zone that Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is not currently serving: reconnecting survivors who have been cut off from the outside world so they can charge a phone, get online and reach family. The pair believe Chatterbox is the first of its kind in Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.
Kentucky Baptist Convention Disaster Relief Director Ron Crow attended the dedication. He said that when someone comes to get online or charge a phone, volunteers gain an opportunity to listen to their story, and that such one-on-one conversation is itself part of the relief work.
The unit was funded through gifts from Kentucky WMU, the Eliza Broadus State Mission Offering, the Bowling Green Kiwanis Club, the South Central Baptist Association, local churches and individuals.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 鲍灵格林市喷泉广场公园（资料图）。经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Fountain Square Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky (file photo). Via Wikimedia Commons.
